Why Ethereum Classic (ETC)’s 51% Attack Is Not A Deal Breaker

Ethereum Classic (ETC)’s 51% attack seems to have shocked a lot of people but for the wrong reasons. It is disconcerting for a blockchain of such repute to experience a 51% attack but we mustn’t pretend that such attacks have not happened in the past. Vertcoin and Bitcoin Gold are two other coins that have experienced such attacks in the past. They are doing well, moving along with the rest of the market and there future prospects seem unhindered by the attack. This is because things are happening at such a rapid pace in this space that people only have a 48 hours memory. After that, it is a fresh start. One day they are calling Ripple (XRP) a bank coin or a centralized coin, the next day it is the sweetheart of the crypto community.

It would not be surprising to see the same happen to Ethereum Classic (ETC). There is no need to worry about investors as the people currently supporting Ethereum Classic (ETC) are not likely to give up. So, in other words things could not get much worse from here. However, they cannot get much better either if the teams working on Ethereum Classic (ETC) go about their business pretending this is not a big deal or refuse to accept responsibility blaming it on exchanges for not increasing confirmation time. The hackers that got away with $100,000 in ETC from the exchange, Gate.io have just returned the funds back to the exchange. I said it before in a previous analysis that this was not about money; it was about trying to prove to the community that proof of work (PoW) is a risky model.

The attack has already got Ethereum Classic (ETC) development teams working on solutions to prevent such incidents in the future. In a way, there is a bright side to it for Ethereum Classic (ETC) as the blockchain will get more secure. One thing a lot of people seem to confuse is that they think the 51% attack is a breach of immutability or decentralization. This couldn’t be further from the truth. A 51% attack could lead to a hard fork resulting in the chain splitting into two as in the case of Ethereum (ETH) when it forked off the original chain now called Ethereum Classic (ETC). So, if a 51% attack succeeds, someone might succeed in creating an Ethereum Classic Vision (ETCV) or any other useless forked coin but the original chain will remain unaltered and therefore immutable.

Investors who are giving up on Ethereum Classic (ETC) just because of the 51% attack might regret it big time in the future. We can already see that it hasn’t had the effect that most people were waiting for. However, if there are other reasons to give up on this project for instance the lack of development activity or useful applications then it would be reasonable. It is pertinent to note though that Ethereum Classic (ETC) under $5 is a very good deal for a blockchain of such potential. Investing in most altcoins is no different than investing in startups so at the end of the day it all comes down to risk/reward. If we think about it, Ethereum Classic (ETC) does not have much room to go down from here but it has plenty of room to go up in the future.